I’m going to take a break from blogging about SEO and Android and social media to talk about something that feeds my soul: gardening. All day long I sit at my computer and collect data, analyze data, write content, research links, and produce nothing physical. It takes a surprising toll on my sense of accomplishment, even when the results are great. Gardening helps fill that need for physical toil and reward.

I’m fortunate to live on an acre of land in Crystal Lake, IL, with lots of different areas of shade and sun, great soil and poor, so I have a lot of opportunities to create gardens that feature different types of plants. In my digital life I look for patterns and rules and guidelines to navigate the rocky waters of SEO. Well, it’s the same with gardening.

Plants have patterns and rules that need to be followed to produce the best results, just like SEO. And as with SEO, if something you’ve tried isn’t working it’s easy enough to tweak it and try something else. Just dig it up and plant it somewhere it is likely to do better. Or divide it. Or shade it. Or remove the shading overgrowth.

Now that it’s Fall, there’s less to do in my garden besides mulching, cleaning up spent foliage, collecting seed, planting Fall bulbs for Spring blooms and trying to get a last few hardy plants in the ground before the hard frost. And enjoying my efforts. These are my favorite Fall views of my gardens for the Fall Color Project 2011.